August Practice Kick-Off
Welcome to the August Integrated Practice Kick-Off! With the school year and concert season starting in a few weeks, now is the time to get your auxiliary playing in shape. Get your E-flat playing off to a great start by learning to integrate it into your regular practice routine!
The August Practice Calendar includes six items to try each week - four that focus on practicing, and two items away from the instrument that can help you with future practicing. Each week, there will be a new post up on the blog to explain the items and provide links to resources. The key is to do something almost every day - so don’t go through the weekly list in one day and then wait until the next week to practice E-flat!
For clarinetists that aren’t used to incorporating auxiliaries into a practice routine, it will be tempting to play the E-flat clarinet component of your practicing separately from B-flat and A. This is probably good to start with, however you should work towards playing a little bit of each clarinet in most practice sessions. Your goal by the end of August? Switching between clarinets comfortably and confidently!
What will you need? Here’s a list of materials to get you started.
Tuner with drone
Metronome
Notebook or note-taking system: Phones can be really distracting, so consider paper unless you are disciplined enough to stay on task!)
Internet access for non-playing items
Etude/method books: Most of the examples being used in the weekly post will be standard B-flat clarinet books, some of which can be accessed through IMSLP.
E-flat clarinet orchestral excerpts: If you don’t have a copy of Peter Hadcock’s excerpt book - (you should!), many excerpts can be found by searching for current E-flat audition posts. Some orchestras post common first-round excerpts when they are holding auditions.
Reed adjusting/cutting tools
Many of the items on the practice list can (and should!) be applied to any clarinet you are practicing, so adapt your practice to fit your particular goals!
Stay tuned for Week 1 suggestions and links - happy practicing!